In the past, we have seen conversations about spam and credit-related inquiries into RPers in our community. I have most certainly enjoyed a fair share of RPing myself, under the right circumstances and within a plethora of various competitions over the past few years now. However, I don't think it would be accurate to say I am a highly prolific writer like some who grace our streets.

With the new(ish) VIP lottery system, it is quite apparent to any casual observer of #main the lack of diversity in the top handful of large-scale percentage ownership of posts seen within our streets and the business district. It seems questionable to me how one individual may be accruing over 25% of the entire population of posts, and be rewarded for such constant spew of wordage.

In those past conversations about spam, we have heard a large handful of prolific authors announce they don't care for credits, and in fact they only post for the purpose of expressing their creative abilities. However, in the eyes of many still, I think it would be fair to acknowledge there are still doubts about the altruism of some choice individuals, typical politics and drama aside.

For the purpose of reducing this, therefore, I'd like to introduce a mechanic adjustment:

Instead of the current forum VIP system giving out credits based on a percentage ownership of total posts, for example:

<&MRBot> VIP: Congrats Boss Tutte of Princess's The Sophisticates, Brooklyn, New York was awarded a credit for their forum VIP activity! They had 3.88% of all points in the lottery, earned from 47 of 795 qualifying posts.

The system would retain this feature with a slight tweak. The maximum posts being counted/credits received from those posts will be adjusted in relation to a median value of posts counted (credits received) per person, although it can be adjusted to be somewhere between the 50-75th percentiles as seen necessary for balance purposes. This means that the top posters will receive at maximum what the middle person in the whole population of players or up to the 75% highest out of the whole population mark receives. 

The intent here is not to punish individuals for posting frequently, but instead incentivize them to encourage others to post. Moreover, this denies critics the ability to complain about a handful of notable spammers, effectively removing the outliers of potential spammers (with the emphasis on posts specifically for the purpose of obtaining credits, and a large quantity of them at that). This does not remove credit rewards but adjusts the maximum in relation to the population as a whole.

Thoughts?

Thank you for bringing this up ErrantKnight.  

I am in Huge support of this idea.  Something needs to be done I agree.

In those past conversations about spam, we have heard a large handful of prolific authors announce they don't care for credits, and in fact they only post for the purpose of expressing their creative abilities. However, in the eyes of many still, I think it would be fair to acknowledge there are still doubts about the altruism of some choice individuals, typical politics and drama aside.

I do wonder IF something is done to adjust the credit reward system that there could be an increase of posts in order to make up the difference of rewards lost. 

As a player here who enjoys the RP aspect of the game, it is annoying seeing the system abused as it has been over time.  I can honestly say I would still enjoy writing even if there were no rewards given for it because that is not why *I* write here.  I wrote here before this new system was implemented, and will continue to write if any adjustments are made.

For the avoidance of doubt, if it wasn't apparent already, I am not altruistic in any way and my intentions regarding VIP Credits should be abundantly clear. However, despite this, I haven't gone out of my way to post garbage or spew wordage, I'm trying to make an actual contribution each time I speak. I do not think this is the case with everyone who is posting.

Therefore, I believe the question is really "which content should be rewarded?" If I make 25% of the total posts and they are all great, shouldn't I earn the VIP rewards for that? Isn't that exactly what the VIP rewards were introduced for?

I think a better solution would revolved around examining what a qualifying post actually is. Is it a thread like Mikhail's about a post war takedown or is it a series of posts by Luc-DiCaprio in the LV Business District in an 8 year old thread about fictional nonsense that should be removed as spam? The current answer is both and that, to me, is wrong.

To your suggestion, I'm not a fan of the game setting a median point and throttling me down to it even if I work harder than someone else. That actually goes against one of the fundamental principles of this game; if I work harder than you, I am rewarded for it. That applies to nearly all aspects of the experience and I wouldn't be in favour of that suggestion.

I would gladly explore means of limiting the rewards to people who actually deserve them by, for example;

• Have VIP Credits reviewed by staff/an appointed panel
• Disregard any thread where 75% of the posts are by less than X amount of people
• Disregard any thread which has less than X amount of unique views
• Disregard any post which is not in keeping with the forum rules
• Disregard any thread/post which is flagged by multiple people for review
• Execute repeat offenders breaking game rules  

Those are just off the top of my head. Good topic for discussion though, certainly.  

This topic had come up a few months ago and there were quite a lot of ideas thrown around. I don't think any changes took place, perhaps the admins were busy?

Plenty of people are still spamming shamelessly(and proudly) for credits. What's worse is that they claim to be doing it for adding flavor to the streets or bringing happiness to people. Yea right !

ErrantKnight's suggestion for a moving cap might be a feasible solution if the math could be worked out. 

I like few of the points mentioned by VIPCreditsGrin as well. Mainly the ones about unique views and review.

A few suggestions I'd like to make are as follows.

• Greatly reduce the points gained for posting back to back in a thread. So the more people that post with you, the more points you receive.
• Reduce points gained for posting in dead threads. The more recent the last post, the more points you gain for posting in it and vice versa.

100% agree with those two bullet points. 

Further suggestion would be to count any back alley posts pulled across to the streets as 1 post, even if it has 276 replies in it. If you don't want people to participate in your thread, don't post it in the streets at all. Keeping it in a back alley and then shifting it complete to the streets could not be more "look at me" and can only be for the rewards. Weak.

I do plan on responding to this thread later today when I'm able to give a longer reply, but I agree that many of these reforms sound promising.

However:

VIPCreditsGrin, you said:

Keeping it in a back alley and then shifting it complete to the streets could not be more "look at me" and can only be for the rewards. Weak.

This is incorrect. I don't feel the need to expand my answer further, since you have no evidence or argument outside of an unsupported assertion. To paraphrase Christopher Hitchens: "That which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence." If you'd like to have a discussion about why a writer would move a larger work to the streets from a back alley, then I'm happy to do so either publicly or privately.

I'll rephrase.

Keeping it in a back alley and then shifting it complete to the streets could not be more "look at me" and is in my opinion done the rewards. Weak.

I should have rephrased it better, but I guess you understand my meaning.

• Excluding VIP rewards entirely for any thread that is (Private) and prohibitive of interaction with other users 

I like the idea of encouraging people to interact with other members of the community. 

What if a double posting (ie: replying to yourself) didn't yield a new entry into the VIP lottery?  That way a person has to at the very least be engaging/entertaining bare minimum one other person to get any benefits?  

Just a random thought.

As mentioned, some longer thoughts and some proposed solutions.

As a disclaimer, I agree that this is an issue; however, I do think it has been exaggerated in the last few weeks by war. Obviously, have people wiped off the VIP board by dying is going to make the numbers a little screwy. 

In those past conversations about spam, we have heard a large handful of prolific authors announce they don't care for credits, and in fact they only post for the purpose of expressing their creative abilities. However, in the eyes of many still, I think it would be fair to acknowledge there are still doubts about the altruism of some choice individuals, typical politics and drama aside.

 

While some people would continue to write just as much without Not every writer is an artistically committed saint. Some people have a track-record

ErrantKnight

Your suggestion of comparison to a median is an interesting one; I like it in theory, because it incentivizes more people to post, as you said. I'm a supporter of anything that creates more engagement for players/writers. How hard would the "math" be to implement?

As SofiaVitali mentioned, I think it's important to avoid implementing something that has a negative result in the opposite direction. 

VIPCreditsGrin,

I don't think "altruism" should impact the VIP credits system at all. We have people who can sit on lounge all day and rack up free credits that way, which is fine, but not an option for everyone. Similarly, the VIP credit system should incentivize people to post and be active and earn a reward; that seems to be the point of it. 

As you said, the idea of being "throttled down" is a bit distateful in terms of earning rewards; but we already have this for gun tapering. I think some reasonable VIP credit tapering would keep it more balanced. 

Therefore, I believe the question is really "which content should be rewarded?" If I make 25% of the total posts and they are all great, shouldn't I earn the VIP rewards for that? Isn't that exactly what the VIP rewards were introduced for?

I think this is the crux of the issue; to "fix" things there should either be some sort of "throttle" or different content should be more rewarded/discouraged.

I do take issue with your phrase "fictional nonsense"; this is a roleplaying game. Fictional nonsense is part of the game; for some people, it is the game. While some play MR as a chessboard, others play it as a storyteller. To each their own, and you can play how you'd like, but if there wasn't any "fictional nonsense" I never would have stuck around here initially- as well as many others.

To your other points:

- I like the idea of a "multiplier" where more people are involved, although this could be abused if there isn't a more substantial bar to clear for what "involved" means.

- Regarding the posts by less than X amount of people: I agree with this- as long as X equals 2. Writing something and roleplaying a character with another player on the site is, in my eyes, a legitimate, authentic, and valuable contribution. If you want to tell me that a pure "story" that no one else interacts with and no one else responds to shouldn't count... then fine. I think these can be valuable interludes to build character, but I can see how something that no other player reads or interacts with should discouraged. And while I agree with you that a street discussion that involves twenty different people should be reward substantially more than an RP by two people, basing something on X people/unique views that would penalize two or three people writing together would negatively impact RP on the site, which often happens in pairs/trios just for ease of storytelling.

- I'm curious about "disregard any post which is not in keeping with the forum rules." Are there many offenders of this? (An honest question: nothing immediately comes to mind, but I'd be curious to learn if there's a rule I'm not aware of or if something has been so customarily disregard that I've forgotten it.

- I strongly disagree with "Disregard any thread/post which is flagged by multiple people for review"; I can easily see this being abused.

- If rules are clearly published and people break them, I think executing repeat offenders seems fair- especially if warnings/admin jailings have been issued.

Maid_Marian

- I like the idea of a multiplier for threads that involve more people, but writing with two/three people is customary to make it easier to tell a story. I've run RP threads with 8-10 people; it's a constant exercise in herding cats, as most people are sitting around waiting for one person to write. Again, I think a street discussion that involves 20 people should be rewarded substantially more than an RP between two people, although this has the potential for abuse; with that acknowledgement, writing between 2/3 people is still authentic engagement and should not be disregarded.

- I also like your idea about incentivizing posting in more recent, active threads.

VIPCreditsGrin

- Your "count any back alley posts pulled across to the streets as one" could be easily circumvented. Also, I agree with "don't post it publicly unless you're ready for others to participate"; however, when telling a story there are some instances when public participation is more welcome than others. This is why the back alley exists, I think; if you believe that it should be removed, you can of course make that suggestion. However, this is a game mechanic that is an option, and I see no reason why people should be discouraged from using it.

- Additionally, the "write RPs in a back alley, then move them" mechanic was, I think, implemented in part to ensure that announcements and street discussions (the lack of which is oft lamented but rarely actually attempted) didn't get lost. If you have 12-15 active RPs being constantly updated in the streets, it will be easier for other items to get buried- another reason I think the back alley should remain.

Madam-M

What if a double posting (ie: replying to yourself) didn't yield a new entry into the VIP lottery?  That way a person has to at the very least be engaging/entertaining bare minimum one other person to get any benefits?  

 

I wouldn't be opposed to this. 

Suggestion Part 1: We currently have a system where those who level their guns to a certain point hit "tapering". This should be implemented for VIP Credits as well- not in the larger, total sense of "every post after 1000 posts counts for less", but on the short term. For example, every post up to a certain limit will count fully, but after a certain number the "per post" reward will decrease. So someone who has posted 99 posts in the past week, for example, will have 99 qualifying posts for the lottery. But someone who has 299 posts in the past week will have the same 99, but each post after will be worth only a quarter, resulting in a total of 149- which is much closer. ((99 + (200 x 0.25 = 50))). If needed, additional tiers resulting in 10%, etc. could be implemented.

Suggestion Part 2: If the point of roleplaying on the site is engagement, then posts that include more people should be rewarded more. A street discussion that involves 20 people should be rewarded more than a discussion with five people, and an RP with three people should be rewarded more than a story with one.

Suggestion Part 3: Replying to oneself does not count as a "qualifying post"- or counts for a fraction of a qualifying post.

Closing thoughts: 

People who are willing and able to write a lot should not be unduly punished. We don't limit shooters to 5 kills a day to make things more "fair", and we don't limit earners to 10 drug deals a day. If you're willing to work hard, you should be rewarded. With that being said, tweaking the system to incentivize engagement and include a form of tapering after a substantial limit is already reached would make sense to me.

VIPCreditsGrin, I do like your suggestions, but instead of staff reviewing it, it would be better to keep it all as an automated thing to be done.  People can be biased in nature rather than 100% impartial as the automated system would be.

Also, the issue of 'starting' in a BA I don't think has any bearing here because I for one would not be writing alone, and rather than anyone interrupting the scene- even if just 1-2 posts each, saves me the frustration.  I am not saying that anyone should ever be excluded from joining stories at any given point, but when one writer begins the story, it can be annoying for someone to jump in there and change up the scene than the original two writers had planned before it even gets going with the second reply.

MaidMarian's points I fully agree with, and I believe those would help immensely.

I love writing.  I support/encourage writing/writers.  I am and will never be in support of spamming for credits.

As a disclaimer, I agree that this is an issue; however, I do think it has been exaggerated in the last few weeks by war. Obviously, have people wiped off the VIP board by dying is going to make the numbers a little screwy. 

It isn't something exaggerated by war though because just the other day in #main a comment was made:

 57% with 3 people lol. they need to cap this !

Right before this comment were VIP points given by MRBot to three people.  I do know that wars/takedowns shift the VIP boards/points greatly; however, that comment was made on November 4th ... before any takedowns occurred I will add.

SofiaVitali

It isn't something exaggerated by war though because just the other day in #main a comment was made"

 57% with 3 people lol. they need to cap this !

Right before this comment were VIP points given by MRBot to three people.  I do know that wars/takedowns shift the VIP boards/points greatly; however, that comment was made on November 4th ... before any takedowns occurred I will add.

A fair point. I also agree that reforms need to be made- hence my previous suggestions.  

I think this is the crux of the issue; to "fix" things there should either be some sort of "throttle" or different content should be more rewarded/discouraged.

Agree.

I do take issue with your phrase "fictional nonsense"; this is a roleplaying game. Fictional nonsense is part of the game; for some people, it is the game. While some play MR as a chessboard, others play it as a storyteller. To each their own, and you can play how you'd like, but if there wasn't any "fictional nonsense" I never would have stuck around here initially- as well as many others.

Poor choice of words. The posts I am referring to specifically occur in an 8 year old thread. It barely makes sense and refers to many characters with no attempt to make it seem plausible. The only reason these posts exist are to get VIP credits or vision. The venue they are occurring is irrelevant. The business is irrelevant. The person enters, describes a series of events, involving a series of people and then stops. That isn't roleplaying. That is actually just exploitative garbage. 

Regarding the posts by less than X amount of people: I agree with this- as long as X equals 2. Writing something and roleplaying a character with another player on the site is, in my eyes, a legitimate, authentic, and valuable contribution. If you want to tell me that a pure "story" that no one else interacts with and no one else responds to shouldn't count... then fine. I think these can be valuable interludes to build character, but I can see how something that no other player reads or interacts with should discouraged. And while I agree with you that a street discussion that involves twenty different people should be reward substantially more than an RP by two people, basing something on X people/unique views that would penalize two or three people writing together would negatively impact RP on the site, which often happens in pairs/trios just for ease of storytelling.

Two or three people writing together is fine and should be rewarded provided it is street-worthy content. What should not be rewarded is me starting a thread and posting 45 times, each with 1-5 paragraphs being different parts of a story. That isn't roleplaying. Nobody else can join in with it, which further makes it not street content. I don't think that should get rewarded, I actually think it should get deleted. If someone makes the effort to set the story up in a believable way as to why they are out in the street telling us it, then fine. Crack on. Otherwise, no. 

- I'm curious about "disregard any post which is not in keeping with the forum rules." Are there many offenders of this? (An honest question: nothing immediately comes to mind, but I'd be curious to learn if there's a rule I'm not aware of or if something has been so customarily disregard that I've forgotten it.

https://mafiareturns.com/comm/thread/67661#204491378 - Those are the forum rules I was referring to. I'm sure a cursory glance of the forums will reveal many instances where these are being flouted. 

- I strongly disagree with "Disregard any thread/post which is flagged by multiple people for review"; I can easily see this being abused.

Anything can be abused. The profile reporting can be abused, but it isn't. This would be similar, it gets flagged pending review. If those flagging the posts are found to have done so for unseemly reasons, they will be punished and the reward will be processed. 

 Your "count any back alley posts pulled across to the streets as one" could be easily circumvented. Also, I agree with "don't post it publicly unless you're ready for others to participate"; however, when telling a story there are some instances when public participation is more welcome than others. This is why the back alley exists, I think; if you believe that it should be removed, you can of course make that suggestion. However, this is a game mechanic that is an option, and I see no reason why people should be discouraged from using it.

If you're telling a story that is only for a certain number of people, it doesn't belong in the streets. The streets are for public participation. Shielding your baby from the public to then drop it on them as a pensioner is absolutely pathetic and not the idea of the streets. I absolutely support your right to make a story with your friends and if the 5 of you really enjoy doing it, all the better. But if you don't give anyone else the chance to join in on it, it isn't street content. You didn't want our input. Why should you now gain the reward for it?

I actually think the back alley exists for private content and proof reading. The move over option was added so you could proof a thread before posting it, if I remember correctly.  Either way, I'd never seen it used to produce a 200 post thread that is then dropped upon the game and I don't think that was ever the intention. 

I'm not a fan of tapering, more tweaking the reward system to reward quality work over a significant volume of shite. If tapering was to come in, I would accept it as being fair, provided all credit rewards were backdated to allow for the diminished returns and those already handed out are returned. The difference between this and wack is that people die; credits don't. Those who have been rewarded/exploited the systems to the tune of 1000s of credits keep them and those that follow will never earn the same. 

VIPCreditsGrin

Poor choice of words. The posts I am referring to specifically occur in an 8 year old thread. It barely makes sense and refers to many characters with no attempt to make it seem plausible. The only reason these posts exist are to get VIP credits or vision. The venue they are occurring is irrelevant. The business is irrelevant. The person enters, describes a series of events, involving a series of people and then stops. That isn't roleplaying. That is actually just exploitative garbage. 

While I'm happy to defend roleplaying in general, I'm not aware of the specific post itself; I'll leave that to the author. 

In general, I do agree with your assessment there that the lack of engagement/interaction makes that a less than ideal contribution. 

Two or three people writing together is fine and should be rewarded provided it is street-worthy content. What should not be rewarded is me starting a thread and posting 45 times, each with 1-5 paragraphs being different parts of a story. That isn't roleplaying. Nobody else can join in with it, which further makes it not street content. I don't think that should get rewarded, I actually think it should get deleted. If someone makes the effort to set the story up in a believable way as to why they are out in the street telling us it, then fine. Crack on. Otherwise, no. 

Agreed.

https://mafiareturns.com/comm/thread/67661#204491378 - Those are the forum rules I was referring to. I'm sure a cursory glance of the forums will reveal many instances where these are being flouted. 

I disagree with your assessment.

Rule 1: I don't see too many open RP tags. There are a few, sure, but I don't see much of an issue here.

Rule 2: I can't recall the last time I saw a (Closed) tag on the streets. I don't think writing an RP in a back alley then moving it over breaks this rule, assuming the writers in question are open to participation once their post has been moved to the streets. I believe this rule was implemented when people posted in in the streets with a (Closed) tag, then bitched about other people showing up in their threads and interrupting them.

Rule 3: There's always a formatting issue here or there, but I don't think this is rampant.

Anything can be abused. The profile reporting can be abused, but it isn't. This would be similar, it gets flagged pending review. If those flagging the posts are found to have done so for unseemly reasons, they will be punished and the reward will be processed. 

Anything can be abused, sure, but that doesn't mean the same systems would work for profiles versus threads, or even individual posts. I'm not dismissing this suggestion, but any sort of review would seemingly require standards and a substantial amount of reading. Can the "review" infrastructure as it stands handle this? How many new profiles are created each day? How many are reported? That would seem much easier to manage.

However, I'm not opposed to this as long as clear standards are introduced. I'm sure there are players who consider any sort of long RP "spam". But if clear rules exist, then I'd be fine with this.  

If you're telling a story that is only for a certain number of people, it doesn't belong in the streets. The streets are for public participation. Shielding your baby from the public to then drop it on them as a pensioner is absolutely pathetic and not the idea of the streets. I absolutely support your right to make a story with your friends and if the 5 of you really enjoy doing it, all the better. But if you don't give anyone else the chance to join in on it, it isn't street content. You didn't want our input. Why should you now gain the reward for it?

I actually think the back alley exists for private content and proof reading. The move over option was added so you could proof a thread before posting it, if I remember correctly.  Either way, I'd never seen it used to produce a 200 post thread that is then dropped upon the game and I don't think that was ever the intention. 

You're entitled to your opinion, of course. I think it makes sense to write something up to a particular point, then shift it for the streets for potential public participation. If there's 2 or 5 or 10 people who've participated, then there's already been engagement and contribution in the game, which is why it's being rewarded. 

I'm not a fan of tapering, more tweaking the reward system to reward quality work over a significant volume of shite. If tapering was to come in, I would accept it as being fair, provided all credit rewards were backdated to allow for the diminished returns and those already handed out are returned. The difference between this and wack is that people die; credits don't. Those who have been rewarded/exploited the systems to the tune of 1000s of credits keep them and those that follow will never earn the same. 

Credits can obviously make quite a difference in the game, though I agree they're less direct. I think backdating is an impractical logistical nightmare, frankly. 

All in all, some fair points and some common ground, although there are obviously some places we disagree. Thanks for the good discussion.

Oriana I believe what Grin was getting at is where it clearly states in the forum guidelines:

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A CLOSED RP IN THE STREETS. or in public at all for that matter. If you want to do a closed RP, that is great, I feel happy for you, but take it to the HQ or the Backalley or Mobmail. Don't put it in the streets

People writing 200 post RPs in the back alley and then moving it to the streets like so much verbal diarrhoea has always irked me since it first started happening. The reason being this is a RPG... a Role Playing Game. Like pen and paper RPGs, the other players are fully able to interact and upset your plans. If you are robbing a bank in the streets, along with a group of friends or a group from your crew, then i should be able to come along and interrupt that robbery, get involved, try and rob you perhaps, or assist the bank because they are paying my guys protection.

Posts like that do not belong in the streets period, because they are not Role Plays, they are stories, they have absolutely zero contribution to the game other than perhaps some entertainment value, and if that is what you are going for, then posting them in your HQ, via mobmail, in the back alley, or even in the business district as a last resort are all fine alternatives.

10 friends getting together to write a RP in a Back alley and then moving the completed item to the streets is by definition a closed Role play, and as the rules make abundantly clear, there are no closed role plays in the streets.

Neil_Anblomi

I understand what Grin was getting at by citing the Closed RP rule. I believe the statement of that rule resulted from a stretch in 2009 when people were posting roleplays with a (Closed RP) tag. When someone else would wander into these RPs, the writers would petition Helpdesk/admins to wack these posts since the people were "trespassing", which resulted in the statement that if you don't want someone else adding to what you've written, don't post it in a public place. 

As an additional variable, I would point out that anything moved to a public place now has the option of being added to and contributed by anyone- making it open at that particular point. 

People writing 200 post RPs in the back alley and then moving it to the streets like so much verbal diarrhoea has always irked me since it first started happening.

As someone who has written 200 post RPs in the back alley and then moved it to the streets, I think your analogy to fecal matter is a shitty move. (See what I did there?) Honestly, calling someone else's writing a load of shit probably isn't helping constructive discussion, but whatever. 

The reason being this is a RPG... a Role Playing Game. Like pen and paper RPGs, the other players are fully able to interact and upset your plans. If you are robbing a bank in the streets, along with a group of friends or a group from your crew, then i should be able to come along and interrupt that robbery, get involved, try and rob you perhaps, or assist the bank because they are paying my guys protection.

Yes, I agree people should be open to collaborate on anything they post in a public forum.

But your analogy to a pen and paper RPG is, frankly, a fantastic one. When you run a pen and paper RPG, you get a group of friends together and run the adventure together. You don't sit in the middle of the park and allow random passerby to interject "Oh, I drop a nuclear bomb on you"; you roleplay as a smaller group, because that's what works the best for storytelling, usually with some sort of oversight from a DM figure. 

Posts like that do not belong in the streets period, because they are not Role Plays, they are stories, they have absolutely zero contribution to the game other than perhaps some entertainment value, and if that is what you are going for, then posting them in your HQ, via mobmail, in the back alley, or even in the business district as a last resort are all fine alternatives.

10 friends getting together to write a RP in a Back alley and then moving the completed item to the streets is by definition a closed Role play, and as the rules make abundantly clear, there are no closed role plays in the streets.

Please clearly define the difference between "role play" and "writing extensive in-character posts as your character", because to me... that's literally what roleplay is. Collaborative storytelling. And people have been posting "stories" in the streets for over a decade- solo works that describe in-character occurrences. I agree with you that collaboration is better, and that people should be open to collaboration... but I just don't understand how you look at 2-3 players writing something in-character and decide "that's not roleplay". 

they have absolutely zero contribution to the game other than perhaps some entertainment value

This honestly made me laugh. What do you mean by this? It sounds like you're suggesting a higher standard than entertainment for writing... on a text-based RPG game.

If people wrote giant collaborative story RPs back and forth in the streets one post at a time, would that seemingly solve the issue for you? Or would that still not be acceptable? Is this an issue with the mechanics of the back alley RP being moved to the streets? Or is an issue with the type of writing being done in these back alley RPs?

Oriana, seriously? OK, whatever, lets look at these one by one. 

1. I didn't refer to the content of the posts as being faecal manner, so much in the way they are delivered. Yes, I don't particularly like them, and have in fact done my best to avoid them, but I realise that some folks do get a buzz out of them. So no, I didn't say your post was shit, just the delivery manner, maybe I wasn't 100% clear on that, but what is done is done.
2. The original rules for governance of Street posts was written long before you could move posts from the back alley to the streets en masse. that is why they don't specifically mention it. I have to believe though that the spirit of the rules is that it shouldn't happen. You say that I'm free to interact once the post has been made, but how do you interact when the deed is done and it ends with everyone back at base with their feet up drinking cocoa and counting their money or chalking up their kills? If at that point I choose to interject, what do you think are the chances that anyone from the original post would bother to continue the narrative?
3. The reason the GM doesn't let random passers by interject is, if in game, those passer-bys are NPCs, like the FBN or Durdens in MR and therefore it usually isn't usual for them to interject, but several times yes in my games an NPC character has come along and completely messed up the PCs plan because of a failed dice role or a pretty shitty plan or what have you. If it is a real life passer by, like you are playing in a coffee shop and some randomer just walks past and throws in his two cents, well then as he is not in the game, and doesn't have a character then he doesn't exist. That would be like someone managing to crack the login screen and randomly posting in the streets. We in MR are all PCs, and if one of my PCs wants to throw a spanner in the works and go against the other PCs then i'd allow it, end of story. The same should be here in the streets (One caveat, where some arsehole comes by and just posts random shit, which I hope the street sweepers would recognise and sweep), if I jump into your post and kick up merry hell in character, then it should be allowed, and it should be up to you guys to roleplay a work around. By posting on masse, you preclude that opportunity and have in fact created a close roleplay, which in the spirit of which they were written, is against the rules.
4. Its the manner in which it is written. To be honest, if you and your friends what to take turn posting in the streets, and role play out a huge narrative running to 100s of posts, then I'm all for that, because other people can join in, at any point. Its not roleplay when you remove the element of chance and variable, all you are doing is writing a story in the same way that Mills and Boon write their books, 4 or 5 authors sitting around taking turns to write a chapter. To turn that book into a role play, another author would have to be able to rush into the room and insert their own narrative into the story. Its why the majority of RPGs use dice, its to introduce that element of change, the element of chance, otherwise its just a story moving from point A to B to C until completion. So to recap, in case I was unclear, ive posting in the streets is roleplaying, taking turns to post in the back alley and moving the narrative into the streets once completed is story telling. Do you see my point, do you see what I'm getting at here, or am I just bashing keys for no reason?
5. I think I answered your final question in my post above, so I'll finish with your incredulity that I require something more than entertainment from posts in the street. As a matter of fact I do, I require them to drive the narrative forward, I require them to allow each and every PC in game to interact if they so desire. I want to see what happens when the attractive young mafioso Oriana comes face to face with Neil Anblomi and he slaps her with a summons to appear at the Grand Jury whilst she's in the middle of robbing a bank, instead of we all organise to do these, I do this, you do that, we do the other, we all succeed and then we all run away laughing. I want the opportunity to become your nemesis if I so desire and to foil your best laid plans, whilst you and your friends plot my downfall. If I wanted to read a prewritten fiction that i had no say in I'd turn off the computer and pick up my copy of 'The Night Fire' by Michael Connelly.